Day 139

Day 139 – July 24 – 1.9 miles – Churchhill Shelter to Route 4

Last night I barely slept.  I kept hearing something scurrying around.  When I heard a chewing sound near one of Flashfires stuff sacks, I got up and turned my headlamp on.  There was a mouse trying to chew its way into the bag.

I was tired and I had enough.  I quickly went over to it, and flung the mouse clear out of the shelter with the back of my arm.

All the commotion woke up Flashfire and Zeus.  They were a little confused as to what was going on until I explained myself.  Flashfire moved her bags and we all went back to sleep.

I really wish I took the time to setup my hammock.

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When morning came, it was windy, cold, and raining.  The weather report called for a high in the mid forties with rain and 30mph winds all day.  In short, it was going to be a cold, miserable day.

There was a road crossing 1.9 miles from the shelter.  The Tramily decided to check out the Inn at the Long Trail, which was located a few minutes down the road.  If they had room, we would stay there.

On our way down to the road we passed the 1700 mile marker.

When we got to the road crossing, we made a right, and walked down the road.

When we got to the Inn at the Long Trail, we found out that they had only a few rooms left.  Most of the hikers that stayed there the night before decided to zero instead of getting back on trail.  I don’t blame them.

The cost of the room was a little higher than we would have liked, but what could we do.  We booked a room.

The cost of the room included breakfast in the dinning area.  Second breakfast. Awesome!

After eating breakfast, we had some time to kill.  The room was not available until 1PM, so we hung out in the cozy common area for a while.

There were books placed all over the place.  It was nice to sit on a couch and look through a book or two  in a warm, cozy setting, while it was cold and raining outside.

There was a corner of the room that had several musical instruments.  I played the piano for a few minutes, and then Stoat and I played a relaxing melody on a pair of guitars.

For lunch, we ate at the Irish pub that was connected to the Inn.  The food was surprisingly good.  They even had homemade Irish soda bread.  There were a few hikers there.  Some of whom we hadn’t met yet.  There were several Long Trail thru hikers there and it was nice to get to know them.

After lunch, our room was ready.  We changed, took showers, and dried out our wet clothes over the fireplace

When it was time for dinner, we went back to the pub.  The place was packed.  We were able to get a table, and as I looked around I realized that I knew 95 percent of the people in the pub.  How often do you go into a pub you’ve never been in before and know almost everybody?

I noticed that they had several awards from Guinness for being the first pub in Vermont to sell Guinness, and for the “best pour” in Vermont hanging on the wall.  I decided to have a pint.  When it arrived it had a clover imprint in the foam.  It was really good.

The Tramily ordered a appetizer of nachos.   While we waited, Flashfire excused herself to go to the bathroom.  The nachos came, and they looked delicious.  We began to eat the nachos, fully expecting Flashfire to be back any moment.  The nachos were also surprisingly good. It was a huge plate of food, but it rapidly began to disappear.

We left enough for Flashfire, but its difficult not to eat food that’s right in front of you when you’re  a Thru Hiker.  Flashfire was taking a very long time, so I decided to go look for her.

When I went to go look for the bathrooms, I saw a slight movement of something in the common room.  When I went over to investigate, I found Flashfire doing a puzzle in the corner.  When I asked her what she was doing she said, ” I went to the bathroom and then I saw this over here, and I….I just had to start working on it.”

When we got back to the pub the nachos were still there.

The atmosphere in the pub was great.  Everyone was talking to each other and having a great time.  Beer was flowing and the smell of food filled the place.

By 9PM the kitchen closed and the place cleared out pretty quick.  Normally by that time on the trail, everyone would be asleep.  So once the temptation of food was gone, everyone headed for bed.

After a good time at the pub, it was nice to go back to a room with a fireplace.  It was crazy that we actually needed the fireplace to warm up in the month of July, but either way, it really helped lull me to sleep.

I found the beds to be quite comfortable.  I not sure if Stoat felt the same way

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